Tag Archives: microbrewery

We recently got new neighbours – often a “we’ll wait and see” event. Our first chat with them was promising. Younger than my wife and I [a more frequently recurring theme than I care to admit] they moved here from Vancouver.

“Traded the Hipsters in for the Hippies – and I think we won” was the line that won me over.

I had to agree with them. I prefer the neo-hippies of Guelph to the Hipsters anytime. My wife gently refers to the latter as the “Look at me – I’m ironic with geeky glasses, tattoos, and outdated facial hair” kids.

What confirmed for me that the Hipster was in fact not hip at all was this article from the NY Daily News. To summarize – it appears that Hipsters have made Pabst Blue Ribbon beer so popular that the price of cheap [not to mention flavourless and watery] beer everywhere has gone up and up.

I do have some advice for these people – not everything that people stopped doing from the past should be considered retro. Some things just need to never come back. Go buy yourself a micro-beer! And stop growing moustaches.

I find the deja vu fun. A little discombobulating at times – but certainly something to have fun with.

Like last week when I lined up at the LCBO.

My line was only 4 deep – and with modern scanning machinery I was certain to fly through the line. Except that I was behind 3 university boys who were definitely going to be ID’d before being allowed to buy alcohol.

Deja Vu – didn’t I already write about this once in 2011 – Educate Our Youth? What can we learn by analyzing what the University student of today is buying for “education purposes”.

Let’s look at the evidence.

Wow – good retro marketing

Student #1 a 6 pack of Old Milwaukee in hand – guys, this is weak, not retro

You know what – don’t ID them – enrol them in a mandatory education program. Like the ones where you have too many traffic demerit points and have to be taught how to properly drive. I really wanted to pull all three over to the side – give them a ticket – and teach them that a 6 pack of any micro-brewery would enrich their lives much more than mass produced, watery “beer”. The Rock Star Vodka kid? Sometimes people just need to lose their priviledges.

PS – the beer advocate even has tasting notes on Pabst Blue Ribbon. Isn’t that an oxymoron?

Spearhead Brewery’s Moroccan Brown Ale is a cloudy, unfiltered pint of brown ale goodness. I’ve always been partial to the brown ale – Newcastle Brown, Mill St’s Tankhouse Ale. However, a draught pint of Moroccan Brown Ale certainly caught my attention last week. “What’s that flavour – it’s unusual” I said aloud in me best British voice. The Moroccan flavours are figs, dates, raisons, and a hint of cinnamon – almost everything that goes into a Christmas pudding.